Homily for the 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Why is it, in our gospel parable this Sunday, that those hired first by the Vineyard Owner are so perturbed by their Employer’s abundant generosity? Is it perhaps because they are First and they are people who are used to being First and so they see the world around them from the perspective of those who are First?
Just look at the tenor of their complaint. We are told that when they came to be paid, “they thought they were going to receive more” even though they received exactly what they had agreed to. Odd, isn’t it? Why would they assume they should receive more? Well, maybe, we shouldn’t be too shocked because in this world the First always assume they should receive more, and not only that they feel entitled to receive more.
And then listen to what the First actually say to the Vineyard Owner: “These last ones worked only an hour, and you have made them equal to us.” Again, who would lodge such a complaint unless those people believed that others were not equal to them; that they were somehow inherently better than others.
And in the midst of all this, what do we hear from the Last? That’s right… silence! We hear nothing from the Last because the Last usually go unheard and yet they are the ones who know firsthand God’s tremendous generosity.
The First find God’s generosity a source of embarrassment, weakness, or foolishness. They call God unjust! Again, think about that. The First, so used to being First, even judge God to be unjust! The Last though know firsthand the abundance of God’s mercy, forgiveness, and solicitude, but they have no voice. History has always been the story of the First. The story of the Last is obscured, if not totally obliterated! So, if this is true, how are we to ever hear about the abundance of God? How are we to hear about the vast generosity of this reckless, merciful and loving Creator?
Well, to be honest, we really can’t. At least not until the Voice of the Last is heard.
One of the things that most drew me, in my studies, to the thought of the French scholar Rene Girard is the radical claim he makes that when Christ’s voice is heard from the Cross, finally the voice of the victim is heard, finally the voice of the Last is heard, and since the victim, and the Last, in this case is God himself, Girard asserts that the cycle of silencing the Last comes to an irreversible end. God’s voice is the voice of the Last! So now, in order for us to continue and silence the Last, we have to work even harder. And unfortunately, I would suggest, if you look about the world today, we are still a little too good at silencing that voice from the cross.
But I do want to be clear here. When I speak of the Last I don’t just mean the economically poor or the migrant, they are certainly included, but the category also includes vast and varied people from all walks of life. And it includes each one of us! I would argue there is the voice of the Last in all of us because God dwells in all of us! And God’s voice is the voice of the Last. But do we speak and act from that place, are willing to occupy that space, are we willing to speak from the heart of our own vulnerability, our own deep need, or do we instead choose to mimic the voice of the First so as to avoid being known as one among the Last?
We are living in a time when so many of the so-called First are making an art form out of finding new ways to silence the voices of the Last and, in turn, what do we all lose? We lose the life-saving witness of the Last to the truth of who God is.
But I would say there is good news here and it isn’t all that dire. Remember, if Girard is to be believed, no matter how hard we work to silence the voice of the Last, since the Crucifixion there is no going back. Once the voice of God is revealed as the voice of the Last no matter how loud the First shout, the Last will be heard… that is God’s promise to us. And there are voices among us and around us who are not ashamed to speak from their “Lastness.”
So we too must learn to speak from our own Lastness. We too must witness to the world about the reckless mercy of our God… the relentless forgiveness, the Love that cannot be earned or merited in any sense. It’s the voice of the Last that heals the brokenness in us and our brothers and sisters that in turn will heal the brokenness of our world.
Jesus promises us, more than once, that the Last shall be First and the First shall be Last. And I don’t think he means that when the Last become First they will fall into the same entitlement trap. I think he means that when the Last become First finally we all will hear the voice of the Crucified One, the voice of the Victim, the Voice of God… and God’s abundant generosity will no longer be Christianity’s best kept secret, but rather it will become what it was always meant to be: A gift to all of us!
But not until the voice of the Last is heard.
Chiaroscuro Spirituality 